## Etymology
From Late Latin illusorius ('ironical, deceptive'), from illusor ('mocker'), from illudere ('to mock'), from in- ('at') + ludere ('to play').

## AI Etymology
illusory comes from Late Latin illusorius ('ironical, deceptive'), from illusor ('mocker'), from illudere ('to mock'), from in- ('at') + ludere ('to play'). Morphologically, the prefixed shape matters: the initial element belongs to the recorded formation and helps explain the modern form's surface analysis. In present English, the adjective sense is "based on illusion; deceptive or not real", so the historical development ends in a clearly identifiable modern dictionary use. The same base also appears in related forms such as illusion, illusionist, and illusive, and in derivatives such as illusorily and illusoriness. Its semantic neighborhood includes deceptive, illusive, unreal, and imaginary, which helps locate the modern sense without adding a separate etymological claim. The named historical forms include Late Latin illusorius and Latin ludere.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

markdown

illusory

Meanings

Thesaurus

Common collocations

Etymology

Topics

External links

Keyboard Shortcuts

General

Send feedback